Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks permit geographically dispersed devices to form a communication network in which one device in the network typically sends data to another device in the network through other devices in the network that form an ad hoc wireless or wired communication bridge. Various routing algorithms have been invented to efficiently construct a communication bridge so that one device in a network can send data to another device in the network, potentially a great distance away.
Some routing algorithms take advantage of limited heterogeneous characteristics of the devices in the network (such as power supply), and some algorithms possess intelligence to adapt the routing instruction based on certain characteristics of the environment.
Mobile Ad Hoc Networks are finding use in a variety of applications, such as in disaster recovery/monitoring in areas in which the pre-existing communication infrastructure may have been destroyed, personal area networks that eliminate the need for wires, and maintaining non-line-of-sight communication in remote areas.
As mobile communication devices become more powerful and common, there is a need for a Mobile Ad Hoc Network that possesses a high degree of intelligence to efficiently monitor the status of a great number of mobile communication devices that differ along a wide variety of dimensions that are either inherent to the device or reflect the environment within which the device is located.
The present invention develops a Mobile Ad Hoc Network and Monitoring Center with the intelligence to efficiently handle the communication needs of a highly sophisticated collection of heterogeneous mobile communication devices.